[CQ-Contest] IF I CAN GET A CERTIFICATE, YOU CAN TOO!!

[Bob Wanderer]

I recently found a large envelope from the ARRL in my
mailbox.  It was a certificate for taking first place
multioperator in the eastern Pennsylvania section in the
2003 IARU HF World Championship contest.  I was
multioperator because I used packet.

My station is 100 Watts to an attic dipole.  I operate when
and for as long as I feel like it and feel up to it,
assuming reasonably good band conditions.  I do 99.9% S&P.
Calling CQ usually is a waste of energy, although sometimes
I luck out.  I always have a Plan B (good book from the
library) in case of poor band conditions or having worked
all the stations I can hear (at that particular time).

I've been a ham over four decades and started as a teenager,
so I've got that "handicap" too.  I don't contest with a
plan nor to "win."  To me, winning is getting a higher score
than last year, working a new country altogether or a new
band-country or a new mode-country.  Winning is using up
several weekend hours while I forget my drab, wretched life
(to misquote Tom Lehrer).

So to all those out there complaining about uneven playing
fields, contests within a contest, too many hours, too few
hours, New England advantage, Texas advantage, Caribbean
advantage, age, etc., stop whinning (misspelling deliberate)
and start winning.  If I can get an operating  certificate,
anybody can!  Have fun operating the contest using whatever
definition of fun YOU choose.  If you "win," that's just an
extra condiment on the contest hot dog.

73,
Bob AA0CY/3
suburban Philadelphia